Website Redesign Process: Step by Step

The website redesign process runs in order: discovery, structure, design, build, then refine after launch. Agency guides commonly report that content and approvals, not design or code, set the pace. If your URLs change, plan the redirect map before launch day, not on it.

This guide walks each step, what you supply and where projects slip. Not sure you need a redesign yet? Read when to redesign vs refresh first.

What should you have ready before the project starts?

Agencies name the phases differently. LOW/CODE lists seven, Nerd Stack six, Cuberto five. We use the five labels from our own web design page throughout, and fold the rest into them. Before step one, line up your side. This list of six is our own synthesis. LOW/CODE's guide names only four of them as client responsibilities: access, copy, photography and approvals.

Goal. The one thing the redesigned site must do: leads, bookings, credibility or sales.
Pages. The must-have pages and the job each one does.
Access. Domain, hosting, analytics and Search Console logins.
Content. Who writes the copy and who supplies images and video.
URLs. The pages that already earn traffic. Do not orphan them.
An approver. One named person who signs off at each step.

One named approver and early copy do more for your schedule than any design choice.

Step 1, Discovery: what are you actually fixing?

Discovery sets the target. We write the job of each key page down as a single sentence before any layout starts, so later decisions have something to be measured against.

Then take stock of what exists. Pull your analytics as a baseline. Run a content inventory and audit. Nielsen Norman Group (2020) says to do this before developing a content strategy, and to "record a status for each piece: keep, update, or remove."

Ask one question early: will any URLs change? The answer decides how much of the next two steps you need.

Write the job as one sentence before anyone opens a design tool.

Step 2, Structure: how do you keep what already earns traffic?

Structure is the sitemap, page roles and key flows. We map the path a visitor actually takes before we draw a single screen.

This is also where redirect planning starts, if URLs change. Google's site-move guide is written for moves where URLs change. Its steps: prepare a URL mapping from current to new URLs, set up server-side permanent redirects, test, then monitor traffic on old and new URLs. It suggests finding old URLs from sitemaps, server logs, analytics, Search Console's Links report and your CMS URL list.

A redesign that keeps every URL is not a site move. A hosting-only change has its own, lighter Google guide: a DNS cutover, no redirect map.

Decide what stays, merges or goes before anyone designs a page.

Step 3, Design: what gets decided on screen?

Design is the visual system, layout and motion direction. On our side, every screen is built from the same type scale and spacing system, so nothing reads like it was designed on a different day.

Build accessibility in here, not at the end. WCAG 2.2 is the current W3C Recommendation, and it adds Target Size (Minimum) at level AA. W3C says conformance claims are optional. If you make one, it must state the date, guideline version, level and pages covered. Do not write "compliant" without that record.

Step 4, Build: what happens between approved design and launch?

Build is engineered into the live stack. We test design decisions in the browser during the build, with design and engineering working in lockstep. In this guide, Build also covers the work agencies commonly list as content, migration, QA and launch. Whoever builds your site, confirm who owns each piece.

Content. Your inventory feeds migration: keep, update or remove. LOW/CODE says content cannot be finalised after development without causing layout problems, so start copy early.
Accessibility check. Run W3C's Easy Checks on staging. W3C warns that "a web page could seem to pass these checks, yet still have significant accessibility barriers." Treat it as a start, not a certification.
Performance check. web.dev's Core Web Vitals "good" lines are LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP of 200 milliseconds or less and CLS of 0.1 or less, at the 75th percentile of page loads. We explain how to check them in our Core Web Vitals guide.
Launch controls. Google says to remove any robots.txt blocks or noindex tags used during the build, and to test your redirects. If URLs changed, submit the new sitemap in Search Console. Google's separate sitemaps overview adds that a small, well-linked site may not need a sitemap otherwise.

What does a redirect map look like? A worked example

This example is illustrative, with made-up paths and no real client. It applies only when URLs change. Each line is one decision.

Renamed page. The old /our-work becomes /projects. Redirect the old URL to the new one with a permanent, server-side redirect.
Merged pages. The old /offers/seo-audits and /offers/ppc-setup become one /offers/marketing page. Both old URLs point to that single, relevant page.
Removed page. The old /blog/old-announcement has no replacement. Let it return a 404 or 410, as Google advises for content that is not carried over.
Lazy default. Do not send every old URL to the new home page. Google's guidance is blunt: "Don't redirect many old URLs to one irrelevant single URL destination, such as the home page of the new site."

Treat the map as a deliverable with an owner and a test, not a spreadsheet nobody opens.

Step 5, Refine: what happens after launch?

On our five-step frame, Refine means we watch what visitors actually do on the shipped page and adjust the parts that do not hold up. For search, Google points to its Search Console reports. The Sitemaps report shows whether new URLs are being indexed. The Index Coverage report flags unexpected crawl errors. Server logs and analytics show Googlebot activity and error codes.

Expect some turbulence. Google says to expect temporary fluctuation in ranking during a move. It also says permanent redirects "don't cause a loss in PageRank." If you redirected URLs, Google says to keep them "for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year." That figure is Google's redirect-retention guidance, not a project duration.

Where do redesign projects slip?

Agency guides agree on the usual culprits. LOW/CODE says discovery and content are the phases most clients underestimate. Nerd Stack calls how fast the client makes decisions and supplies content the biggest variable. These are agency sources, not neutral research, and they report no shared numbers.

Late content and slow approvals slip schedules more than design does, per agency guides.

Two more slip points:

Stacked changes. Google advises: "Plan your changes to your site one after the other, not everything at the same time." A redesign that also changes domain, CMS and URL structure piles up the risk.
Scope creep. Late requests need an estimate and a sign-off, or the plan quietly stops being the plan.

We do not quote a timeline here. Google, W3C and web.dev publish no redesign duration, and the agency guides we read disagree. For what drives price, see what a redesign costs.

How do we run redesigns at CD Sportswear Inc?

We work in the same five steps: discovery, structure, design, build, refine. Every engagement is scoped in a written proposal before work starts. Requests that surface mid-project are estimated separately and added only with your sign-off. Pricing is quote-only. If it's not a fit, we'll say so.

Our web design page does not spell out migration or redirects, so ask any studio, us included, who owns those steps, in writing. To start a conversation, scope a redesign with us.

FAQ

What are the steps in a website redesign process?

On our frame the steps are discovery, structure, design, build and refine. Agency guides split the same work into five to seven phases, with content, migration, QA and launch usually inside the build.

Do I need redirects for a website redesign?

Only if URLs change. Google's site-move guidance applies when URLs change: map old to new, redirect with permanent server-side redirects, test, and monitor. A redesign that keeps every URL is not a site move.

Will a redesign hurt my search rankings?

It can, especially if URLs change. Google says to expect temporary fluctuation, and a poor redirect plan makes it worse. Google also says permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank. We cannot promise ranking outcomes.

What do I need to supply for a redesign?

Our own list is: your goal, your must-have pages, access to domain, hosting and analytics, copy and images, a list of URLs that earn traffic, and one named approver. LOW/CODE's guide names only four of those as client responsibilities: access, copy, photography and approvals.

Why don't you give a redesign timeline?

No neutral source publishes one. Google, W3C and web.dev give no redesign duration, and the agency guides we read disagree. They agree the pace depends mostly on how fast content and approvals arrive, so your timeline comes from a written scope.

Next step

Ready to plan yours? See our web design work, or send a brief.